Tuesday, October 14, 2014

The Sword of Feimhin by Frank P. Ryan Review

I received a copy from the publisher and author.




"The Tyrant's control of the Fail has increased so much that now he threatens Earth as well as Tir.

In a violently dystopic London, where Mark and Nantosueta are searching for Padraig and the Sword of Feimhin, Penny Postlethwaite, a gifted but emotionally troubled teenager, is mapping two Londons, the tormented 'City Above' and an eerie and frightening 'City Below'. Meanwhile the dystopia of the Razzamatazzers is spreading to New York, and more widely, to the other great capitals of the world.

On Tir, Alan's Shee army is intent on attacking Ghork Mega, the Tyrant's capital city, but obstacles obstruct his path at every turn.

And in Dromenon, while exploring the leviathan roots of the Tree of Life, Kate finds herself entering the Land of the Dead in her hunt for the serpent-dragon Nidhoggr. There is something terribly wrong with the Tree of Life, but does she dare to liberate Nidhoggr, whose instinct is for chaos?

AS war grows on both Tir and Earth, the labyrinthine cunning of the Tyrant becomes manifest. What is he really building in the other City Below the city of London? What is he planning for New York and all the great capital cities of Earth?

Day by day and hour by hour, the looming threat grows in both the worlds..."


Don't believe Goodreads. The Sword of Feimhin (whoops! Awkward spelling) is actually 600+ pages, not 500. Although Frank P. Ryan could probably cut the book to 500 pages. But yes, it is crazily long with a lot of words and... Yeah. It is pretty crazy.

After taking the weekend (well, half of it) to read The Sword of Feimhin, I am sadly tired once finished. The book took a lot out of me, unsurprisingly. It is freaking 600+ pages, and I am reminded of NPH's performance at the Emmy's. He sang, "...barely affordable live action version of Glee..." It has nothing related to The Sword of Feimhin, but I can't get NPH and his humor out of my head. Sorry, guys.

Alright, my favorite characters of this series so far is most definitely Mo. She is the best out of all of them. She is seemingly the youngest, but I like her the best. She is sort of a dreamer, and well... I don't want to get too into spoilers.

But the book is... Well, in a polite way, I'm going to say that it is slow. And it is unbelievably long with the craziest plot ever. The characters are better than the plot, and they are certainly older and wiser than they were at first, but the plot... It is getting longer. Sorry Mr. Ryan. But please, please, please, try to cut it down a bit more in the next book. I can't read this much in one weekend. So many words! Words, words, words. (Now I feel like Edna Mode from the Incredibles. Her attitude towards words is amazing and legendary. Remember the "blah"s from her?)

And the ending! That killed me the most. After getting a real messy and surprisingly hopeful yet also bleak ending from the second book (the prequel, The Tower of Bones), the ending is now even worse. Sure, some of the characters (and there are so many of them that I can barely keep track of them all) are in better positions than others, but... It is really bleak. Like we're in the middle of the tunnel and all is darkness. That bleakness.

And the plot. Well, I'll tell you what the story is about. Well, not all of it. And definitely not the spoilers. I can't tell you those yet. There are seemingly about six (maybe seven) narrators, which just kills me already. (So shoot me in the head, but at least, I have excellent memory). There is a bit of profanity. Probably one bad word every five chapters? And our heroes are fighting against evil while trying not to fall into its trap. There is a lot of temptations, and we are in a fantasy world where there are weird creatures and even weirder, stranger powers. 

I think that is pretty general.

Rating: Three out of Five

Little Note: Also, I'm glad to be back. It has been a while since I'd posted a review. Sorry guys. I have a bit of work to do, and I'm glad that I finished a huge bulk of it.

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